Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving? Some people get together with family members and have a huge feast. There are the standard, traditional foods that you can typically find at a Thanksgiving meal – turkey, ham, green beans, pumpkin pie, and something involving cranberries. But who says that Thanksgiving is limited to just these dishes? If it’s a time for feasting, fill your table with whatever you’d like!

If your child likes to help out in the kitchen, this is the perfect opportunity to let them create a dish all on their own…with just a little bit of adult assistance. We have some great cookbooks for kids at the library. Take a look below!

This week for Teen Book Talk, our teen reviewer shares her views on a teen novel, Mosquitoland, by David Arnold.

Teen reviewers select which titles and movies they’d like to review, and opinions are their own. **Teens use a scale of 1-5 stars, with one star being poor and five stars being excellent, for their reviews**

Esha C., Teen Reviewer

Book Title: Mosquito Land

Author: David Arnold

Format: Book

Year Of Publication: 2015

Who Will This Book Appeal To: Readers who enjoy books by John Green, Rainbow Rowell, and Jandy Nelson.

Rating: 4/5 stars

In David Arnold’sMosquito Land, main character, Mim Malone, decides to drop everything, leave home, and go find her mother. She hops on a bus with some cash, and an address, hoping to finally find some closure about her mother’s disappearance and the lack of communication that they’d had for months. Throughout her journey, Mim encounters various interesting people, and develops fleeting friendships as she finds her way closer and closer to finally seeing her mother again. By the end of the novel, Mim has reached new levels of acceptance and has learned to open up her heart in ways she didn’t think were possible before.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot took a lot of interesting turns, so I never got bored while I was reading it. This book is similar (the writing style) to books by John Green, Jandy Nelson, and Rainbow Rowell, so I think that readers who enjoy the Young Adult and Realistic Fiction type novels will really enjoy this book. (There is no material in the book that would make anyone want to stop reading or uncomfortable.)

Covered California, the California branch of the Affordable Care Act, is the best way to get affordable, name-brand health insurance coverage.

All Covered California plans provide outpatient care, hospitalization, mental health services, rehabilitation and habilitative services, emergency care, pediatric care, laboratory tests, prescription drugs, maternity and new born care, preventive and wellness services, vision and dental coverage for children under 19. This year consumers can purchase adult dental and vision plans in addition to their medical plans.

From November through the end of January, 2017, Axis Enrollment Counselors will be available to help, both in the office and the community. Axis Community Health’s Certified Enrollment Counselors can assist anyone who needs help with their Covered California or Medi-Cal application. For most people, this is the easiest way to get questions answered and enroll on time. Call (925) 462-1755 to schedule a free appointment in English or Spanish at any Axis Community Health clinics in Pleasanton or Livermore. Appointments are available during regular business hours, as well as some evenings and weekends.

Axis Community Health is partnering with Dublin Library to provide in-person assistance with insurance enrollment. Community members are invited to visit at Dublin Library on the 3rd Monday of each month from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (November 21, December 19, and January 16.) Dublin Library is located at 200 Civic Plaza, Dublin, CA 94568.

Unicorns are fascinating. At the library, it’s common to hear requests from kids in particular for books on this specific creature of legend.

What is it about unicorns that is so appealing to us? Some people like horses, and unicorns certainly fit the form with the added bonus of having a magical horn. Unicorns are also mysterious, elusive, and otherworldly…and nothing stokes curiosity like the unknown!

At the library, we have books starring a variety of unicorns from gentle and ethereal to silly and spunky. See below for a sample!

Highlights:

Uni the Unicorn
By Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Uni the unicorn believes that little girls are real.

The Prophecy
By Hilari Bell

Guided by the words of a prophecy, Prince Perryn, who loves books more than swords, sets out to slay the black dragon that is destroying his kingdom.